


Under Cold Blue Stars

by Polyhexian



Series: Humanformers: The Music AU [20]
Category: The Transformers (IDW Generation One), Transformers - All Media Types
Genre: AU, Guns, Humanformers, M/M, POV Third Person, Recreational Drug Use, Triggers, Violence, abuse mention, this is the overlord incident lads
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-14
Updated: 2020-09-14
Packaged: 2021-03-07 01:34:05
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,301
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26464984
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Polyhexian/pseuds/Polyhexian
Summary: I'm sorry, Domey. I'm sorry things didn't work out.
Relationships: Chromedome/Rewind (Transformers)
Series: Humanformers: The Music AU [20]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1859230
Comments: 4
Kudos: 25





	Under Cold Blue Stars

"You gotta tell him," Brainstorm said, leaning back in his seat and nursing his coffee, "You can't just hide it."

"I _can't_ tell him," Chromedome groaned, hands fidgeting with the blade of the box cutter he'd cut lines with, before fitting it back into the holder and shoving it into his pocket, "I told him I was done. I _told_ him that."

"CD, I hate to tell you this, but he's gonna figure it out even if you don't tell him. You're not subtle."

Chromedome groaned and took a drink of his coffee. "You're exaggerating."

"Your eyes are red, CD."

"Oh, come on, my eyes are _always_ red, I have insomnia!" Chromedome leaned back and scowled, frustrated, "I'm doing like two lines a week. That's nothing."

Brainstorm set his mug down and stared at him, jaw set. "You need to see someone, man. Like, a therapist, or rehab, or something. You said you were done and you're right back on it. You need help."

"I've got it under control!" Chromedome exclaimed, "It was stupid to cold turkey. That was the problem. I just need to wean off. I've got it." 

"Yeah, okay, maybe so, so go to rehab!" Brainstorm asserted, "You're deluding yourself and you know it! _You're_ the one with the neuroscience degree, CD, you know how this works. You're smarter than this."

"Maybe," Chromedome mumbled, shoulders tense, staring at the table, "Maybe."

Brainstorm shook his head. "You should tell Rewind."

"I'm not telling Rewind."

Brainstorm huffed and finished his coffee. "You already got kicked out of school and now you're setting yourself up to get dumped again. I don't get you."

"We agreed not to talk about them," Chromedome scowled, "I don't wanna talk about them."

"No, you told me not to mention it and I gave you a sad look because you do whatever you want and don't much care what I think," Brainstorm said, pointing at him in frustration, "They were nice guys, Chromedome! I _liked_ Mach! You just ghosted them and it wasn't fair." He grabbed his mug, shook his head and stood up, "You never learn. You're going to ruin your life again and I don't know why."

"It's not going to be like the other times!" Chromedome called after him as Brainstorm left to throw his mug in the sink. "I'm _going_ to get off the stuff. I'm _going_ to get clean, just- you know, not cold turkey. And I'm not going to tell him because he doesn't need to know! He's been good to me and I don't want to disappoint him."

"He's going to find out."

"He's not going to find out," Chromedome insisted, while Brainstorm lingered by the sink, hands on the counter, "Not unless somebody tells him."

Brainstorm looked up at, his expression sick with pity. "I'm not going to tell him, CD. You should, though."

"I can't do that to him," Chromedome said, staring down at his coffee, "I love him." With that, he leaned back and chugged the remainder. 

Brainstorm didn't say anything else, just watched him, deflated and resigned, as Chromedome got up and tossed his tumbler into the sink. 

"When was the last time you did dishes?" Chromedome asked, frowning at the stacks of cups and silverware in the sink. Brainstorm shrugged. "I'll run the dishwasher and then you can drive me home."

"You don't have to do that."

"Come on, I left you without a roommate," Chromedome said, turning on the faucet, "Let me do your dishes. It's the least I can do."

"It's not like it's the first time you've brought drugs here," Brainstorm mumbled, walking away, "At least you're not driving." Chromedome didn't respond, but set about washing the dishes anyway.

The drive back wasn't especially long. Brainstorm didn't live nearly so close to the center of the city, his apartment situated in the far more affordable outskirts. He leaned out of the window at the gated community entrance and typed in the entry code, his headlights glowing on the reflective barrier before it rose and let them in. 

"Thanks for driving," Chromedome said, as Brainstorm pulled up to the curb and put the car in park. 

"Yeah, well, if I didn't, you would," Brainstorm muttered, staring forward, "So you're welcome."

Chromedome was quiet. "Seriously. Thank you. I know I can always count on you."

"Yeah," said Brainstorm, quietly, without looking at him, "Seriously. Tell him."

"I'll think about it," Chromedome said, pushing the car door open with his shoulder, "I'll see you later, Storm."

"See you later, CD." 

Chromedome closed the door and Brainstorm drove away. He looked up at the house, then down at his feet, guilt pooling in his stomach. He shook his head, hoping maybe a good night's rest would make him feel better, before he unlocked the front door and stepped inside.

Immediately someone grabbed him and slammed the door shut, shoving him roughly to the ground, and by the time Chromedome caught up with what was happening, there was a boot in his back and he was flat on his chest. 

"Great," said a familiar voice, "Now they're _both_ home. You really fucked it up this time, Shock." 

Chromedome felt cold dread shoot up his spine, and tilted his head against the carpet to see. Overlord and Ore loitered in the room, each holding their own guns, pointed at the floor casually. 

"Well, hey there, Chromedome," Overlord said, with a lopsided smile as he knelt down, "Guess you're gonna have to find a new dealer, huh?"

"What is this?" Chromedome wheezed, gritting his teeth, "What are you doing?"

"Come on, you're a smart guy, you can use context clues," Overlord said, "We're robbing you." He nodded up at Shock, who was pinning him down, "Go tie him up with the other one."

"Other one?" Chromedome repeated. He was hauled up by the back of his shirt to his feet and shoved forward into the kitchen, and his heart swelled and sank. "Rewind!" he cried, horrified.

"Chromedome!" Rewind called back, expression a bizarre mix of relief and fear. His arms were pulled back behind him, tied together the same way his ankles were tied to the chair legs. Shock hit him in the back again and he stumbled forward while his captor dragged out a second chair.

"Rewind, I am so sorry," Chromedome gasped as his wrists were pulled together behind him and bound with nylon cord, his voice shaking, "I am so, so _sorry_."

"It's not your fault," Rewind told him, and Chromedome winced as the knot around his wrists was pulled taut.

Chromedome bit his tongue until Shock had finished tying up his ankles and then retreated to the other side of the room to tell the other two through the open doorway he was done.

"It _is_ my fault," he admitted in a trembling whisper, eyes hot and threatening to water, "Rewind, I- I'm sorry, I know these people, they- Overlord's my dealer, I am so _sorry_."

Rewind squinted, eyes tracking across his face before realization bloomed through his expression. "You relapsed."

Chromedome couldn't bear to look at him anymore and hung his head, hiking his shoulders up so the cord bit angrily into his skin. "I should have told you, I know I should have told you, I- I thought I had it under control-"

"You call this under control?!" Rewind snapped, quickly becoming visibly angry, and Chromedome squeezed his eyes shut, certain his heart would give out and burst at any moment.

"I was wrong, I know I was wrong, I just- I didn't want to disappoint you, I-"

"I'm more than disappointed, now!"

"You're angry," Chromedome stated, clenching his gut.

"No, I'm past that. It's- what I feel is worse than anger. In fact I don't know-"

"What?" Chromedome asked, looking up. He'd never seen Rewind so furious, so resolute.

"I really don't know if I can forgive you for this."

For a moment all Chromedome heard was the rushing of blood in his ears like the engine of a passing train, blaring out everything else, before Shock yelled at them from the doorway.

"Stop talking!" he called, dragging both of their attention away for a moment, "Just shut up!"

"We'll finish this conversation later," he whispered, in earnest, "We will. I promise." Rewind just glared at him, silent. 

A moment later Overlord strode back into the room and leaned against the table, gesturing casually with his gun. 

"So, you see, here's my problem," he began, "You left with the other guy earlier, Domey, so we didn't think anyone was home. That's our bad. But now, I got two guys tied up in a kitchen and they know who I am. That's a problem for me."

"Just take whatever you want and go!" Chromedome argued immediately, "You haven't hurt anyone. I'm already in, you _know_ I'm already in, we won't call the cops if you just take what you want and go."

"He doesn't speak for me," Rewind snapped.

" _Rewind!_ " Chromedome hissed.

"This is _my_ house, Chromedome, I'm not going to piss my pants and beg for my life in it."

"Ooh, a domestic dispute," Overlord said, clapping, "How fun. Yeah, sorry, doc, but forgive me if I don't trust the word of a well known junkie." 

"He doesn't know anything about you," Chromedome begged, desperate, clammy palms clutched together, "I know where you live. I know who you hang around. I know your phone number and your gang and everything else. He doesn't know _anything_. Just take me and leave him, he can't do _anything_ to you!"

"He can pick me up out of a lineup."

"A lot of people can pick you out of a lineup! You don't have to kill _him_ , I'll do anything, I'll go anywhere you want, I'll dig my own fucking grave if you just _leave_ him," he pleaded, the words coming so fast he stumbled over them, leaning forward while pain bloomed from his wrists where they were bound. 

Overlord tapped his lips with the barrel of the gun thoughtfully. "Tempting, but I don't think so." He straightened his arm, pointing the weapon toward his hostages.

Chromedome's gut clenched and he took a sharp, terrified intake, thinking back to the many times he'd met with Overlord in the past. The man had a tendency to talk about himself nonstop when he was high, rambling on about a traumatic childhood full of abuse and how angry it had made him. Chromedome remembered, suddenly, a cool night one Autumn when a particularly somber Overlord had admitted, spinning a used syringe between his fingers, that before his father would hit him, he had always said the same thing, the same phrase, and even now when he heard it he felt like he turned back into a frightened child, like a panic attack, like a trigger. The words haunted him, and he'd only dared to breathe them at a whisper, barely dared to give them life at all, had made Chromedome promise never to say-

" _Till all are one!_ " Chromedome blurted. 

A variety of things happened, all nearly at once. The gun fired, and Overlord reared back, dropping it and covering his head with his arms. Shock and Ore both jumped in surprise.

"Fuck this," Overlord gasped, as if he were dying, before stumbling out of the kitchen, through the living room and shouldered the front door open. Shock and Ore hesitated only a moment in horrified confusion before they simply abandoned the hostages and bolted after him. 

"Rewind!" Chromedome exclaimed, as Rewind sagged forward, staring down at his abdomen in surprise. 

"Huh," said Rewind, blinking. 

"No, no, no, no no no," Chromedome repeated, as the panic began to set in, leaning desperately toward him and trying fruitlessly to scoot across the floor, "No, no, Rewind, you're going to be okay-"

His stomach wept red that was quickly spilling off the edge of the chair to puddle on the floor. He looked up at Chromedome and took a shaky breath, eyebrows furrowed.

"I'm sorry, Domey," he said, weakly, "I'm sorry things didn't work out."

"Rewind!" Chromedome pleaded again, but Rewind sagged forward, slipping somewhat mercifully out of consciousness.

"No, no, _no_ ," he repeated with frenzied desperation, chest heaving as he searched for air that seemed to be rapidly evacuating the room somehow, "No, _no_ -"

Vision tunnelled and chest tightened, all sound fell away as a moment of perfect clarity dawned over him, before he balled his hands into fists behind his back, squeezed his eyes shut, and threw his weight onto his left side hard enough to tip the chair over. His full weight came down on his upper arm where it crossed the chair's side, and the bone snapped like dry balsa wood. 

Chromedome howled as more pain than he'd ever confronted in his life erupted from the point of impact and terrified images of shaking hands that could never hold a scalpel right again danced in his vision. He powered through, wailing through grit teeth as he wriggled his side pants pocket against the carpet, forcing out the box cutter that he had cut lines with earlier that evening.

It took him far too long to get his hands on the handle and notch the blade upward, digging it into the cord until it gave way. 

His hands snapped free with a cry of relief, and he held his broken arm in his lap, freeing his ankles before he cut Rewind loose to get him flat on his back. He tore out his cell phone and called 911 on speaker before he used his one good hand to hold pressure on the wound. 

"You're going to be okay," he sobbed, like a prayer, terrified, but everything was turning red and Rewind wasn't moving, "You have to be."

**Author's Note:**

> PHEW okay... So me and sky spent ages trying to put together what the au version of the overlord incident would be because we can't... Kill rewind... You can't come back to life in real life... So instead we decided near death experience, he gets seriously hurt. And toot toot it's Chromedome's fault because he's stupid. We got PARALLELS baby. Also, some canon dialoguuuuue. Chromedome even breaking his arm! 
> 
> I think we did a really good job of constructing a New Version of the overlord incident. Anyway don't take humanformer overlord himself too seriously he's like. He's not overlord obviously, he only needs to be overlord as he relates to the core narrative which is about cdrw. Toot toot


End file.
